


beanbags with a side of vampire

by mysoulrunswithwolves



Series: love-bites and legwarmers [14]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, also Akaashi, because these poor kids need all the hugging they can get, behold life in akaashi's coven, i feel like i owe both iwaizumi and oikawa an apology, iwaizumi and oikawa have things so twisted it's tragic, michimiya and suga brotp, more vampire lore, ofc Oikawa is a blue blood vamp like obvi, there is a lot of platonic cuddling happening, things are pretty sad folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8614876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysoulrunswithwolves/pseuds/mysoulrunswithwolves
Summary: I got a week, he thinks as Iwaizumi quietly retreats from the room. One week of his unwavering affection before something went wrong. He tries to feel grateful, tries to appreciate the gift that it was while he had it. Tooru doesn't need Iwaizumi to spell it out for him. He doesn't need to put himself through this longer than is necessary. He's smart enough to know when he isn't wanted anymore. alternatively: everyone is sad and I'm sorrytoday in love-bites and legwarmers: coffee shop conversations, internal angst, and unfortunate situations





	

**Author's Note:**

> wow this chapter was hard to write?? I put off writing a lot of this for daysss. I would just get so sad while writing and leave for long stretches of time. 
> 
> So sorry it's taken me a while to get this up. Hopefully I'll have the next instalment up on Thanksgiving *crosses fingers* it should be a lot more fun to write than this was.

Tooru doesn't know what went wrong.

Tooru is used to getting what he wants, and he _got_ what he wanted, he got Iwaizumi.

So why does it feel like Iwa-chan is pulling away?

He blinks down at the textbook in front of him as his Anatomy professor drones on about the subgroups of the abdominal muscles. He's had this muscle group memorized for weeks—he doesn’t stare at Iwa-chan for no reason, after all—and therefore, has been having a hard time paying attention to today's lecture when he has more pressing concerns on his mind.

Concerns about Iwaizumi and his odd behavior.

To be fair, Iwaizumi's always been odd, ever since they were children. When Tooru had asked Iwa-chan why he was so serious all the time, he'd responded with "it's my job to protect you, Oikawa, that's a serious matter."

He's always taken the charge as Tooru's protector a little too seriously, in Tooru's opinion, it's an ancient tradition for a reason, after all. But Tooru's and Iwaizumi's parents are both sticklers for traditions, and ' _if it was important to our ancestors it's still important now'_.

Not for the first time, Tooru wishes he wasn't a part of one of the oldest vampire families in the country, wishes he wasn't part of a family that was suffocating in the amount of pressure they put on their children to succeed.

Tooru has never failed them.

Not yet, at least. It's why he's pre-med, why he's going to be a doctor. It's why he's the first-string setter on the university team, even though genius Tobio-chan is on the team too. He strives for perfection and doesn't stop until he gets it, something he learned from his parents. He wouldn't have been able to get this far, however, without Iwa-chan's constant support and care. Iwa-chan was the one who pulled him away from the court when he wouldn't stop practicing his serves, was always the one to make him sleep when he's be studying for ten hours, only breaking for coffee.

Iwaizumi is the only thing his family has given him that he likes, enjoys. Too many of the things his parents have given him come with strings. Everything he has he's supposed to use to reflect well on the family. He supposes that Iwaizumi is supposed to be part of that, but Iwa-chan is the one thing his family has given him that he couldn't give up.

Which is why his sudden distance is downright terrifying to Tooru.

Next to him, Iwa-chan moves in his sleep, tugs the blankets higher up on his shoulder. Tooru frowns, presses himself up against Iwaizumi's back and wraps an arm around his chest. He can feel the steady beat of his heart against the palm of his hand.

Strong and steady, just like his Iwa-chan.

Iwaizumi stirs, shifting against Tooru as he wakes up. Tooru plays the coward and pretends to be asleep.

It hurts when Iwaizumi slowly works his way out from under Tooru's arm. Gently and calmly extricating himself from the tangled sheets and getting out of bed. Tooru doesn't move as he hears Iwaizumi move around his room, shivering in the cold morning air.

 _I got a week_ , he thinks as Iwaizumi quietly retreats from the room. _One week of his unwavering affection before something went wrong._ He tries to feel grateful, tries to appreciate the gift that it was while he had it.

Tooru doesn't need Iwaizumi to spell it out for him. He doesn't need to put himself through this longer than is necessary.

He's smart enough to know when he isn't wanted anymore.

He vanishes from the bed that he'd crawled into in the dark hours of the night and materializes into his own bed, the sheets cold without any traces of Iwaizumi.

Like he'd never been a part of Tooru's life in the first place; like Tooru had just been a part of his until he wasn't.

He lays on top of his bed, lacking the motivation to move. He doesn't feel right, doesn't like being by himself, especially not now.

As easy as a sigh he materializes into the bed of the one person he knows for a fact is as sad as him.

Akaashi groans when Tooru appears in the bed behind him. "Oikawa what are you doing." It isn't a question.

"I'm joining you in your misery," Tooru says, wrapping his arms around Akaashi's waist and burying his nose in his dark curls. He inhales, finds some comfort in the freshness of Akaashi's scent, but it's not the crisp scent of fall that he craves, that he’d taken for granted this last week.

"Misery does love company," Akaashi murmurs into the pillows. "So what's wrong with you?"

"I thought you weren't a morning person?" Tooru deflects, not ready to deal with the reality of his situation.

"I'm a morning person when I have friends who need me to be." Akaashi rolls over with a sigh, nuzzles into Tooru's chest. "What's your problem?"

Damn. He thought he'd gotten out of that. "Iwaizumi is pulling away. I think it's over."

"What?" Akaashi bends his head back, looks up at Tooru through eyes barely cracked against the dim light filtering through the blinds. "But, you guys were just starting to become a thing, right?"

Tooru sighs, tries not to let the lump in this throat rise any further. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He hates how shaky his voice sounds; how breathy it is.

Akaashi yawns hugely, wraps his arms around Tooru's neck and pulls him close. "I'm so sorry."

Tooru ignores the single tear that escapes from his eye between blinks. "Me too." They breathe in silence for a few moments as Tooru steadies his breathing again. "How are things with Suga?"

It's Akaashi's turn to inhale deeply, steady his voice before he answers. "I haven't been able to talk to him yet."

"Still?"

Akaashi nods against his chest. "Still."

"Hasn't it been like, three days?" Tooru tries to keep his tone gentle, but he's not sure how well he succeeds when he sees a tear track down the pale expanse of Akaashi's cheek. He reaches up and gently brushes the tear away with his thumb. "I'm sure he'll come around. I think he really does like you."

Akaashi nods. He's silent for a while, eyes closed and breath evening out into a steady rhythm. "Good, because I really like him."

Tooru nods. It was clear to everyone in the house that Akaashi was head over heels for Suga. "It will work out, you'll see. I'm sure he just needs some time."

And then there is nothing left to say. They lapse into the silence, seeking solace in the comfort of each other's arms.

Neither of them notice Iwaizumi as he leans against the wall just outside the door, listening to them talk in the quiet of the early morning dawn.

***

Hajime returns to his room, coffee in hand, to find his bed empty. He sorts through his hazy memories from last night, trying to remember if Oikawa had crawled into his bed last night or if he'd dreamed that. He eyes the second indent in the pillows, the only evidence that Oikawa had indeed been there. He frowns over his coffee at the strange behavior from Oikawa. He was used to him just, appearing in his bed in the middle of the night, but it was unusual for him to disappear from the room. Usually Hajime had to drag him out of bed in order to get him ready for the day.

Hajime wanders back out into the kitchen but instead of Oikawa he finds Bokuto eating breakfast.

"Have you seen Oikawa?" Hajime asks him, scratching the back of his head.

"I think I heard him talking to Akaashi in his room when I walked past," says Bokuto through a mouthful of toast. Crumbs spray everywhere as he talks.

Hajime hums, works his way in the direction of Akaashi's room at the end of the hall. It's a short walk, and he pulls up outside the door when he hears his name mentioned in the conversation.

“Iwaizumi...think it’s over." He can tell that Tooru is murmuring softly, can hear it in the way his voice rises and falls outside of his hearing.

“So soon? I…you guys…a thing?” Hajime can barely hear Akaashi’s low voice in the quiet.

“That’s what…thought.”

“…sorry.”

“Me too.”

He can’t hear everything, and he isn’t totally sure what they’re talking about, but he doesn’t miss the way Tooru’s voice breaks on the last words.

Hajime’s mind spins as they start discussing Akaashi’s relationship with Suga and really, he doesn’t need to know more about that than he already does, so he turns and starts stumbling back to the kitchen.

He knows, _knows_ , that Oikawa is going to tire of him eventually. He’s not that exciting of a person, and once the novelty of being with him wears off he’ll move on, most likely to Akaashi—because let’s be real, it’s not going to work out with Suga anyway—and they’ll be the most beautifully intimidating couple on campus. He hates them already.

Hajime feels a strange ache begin to throb in his chest, between his ribs.

 _No,_ he thinks, _this is the right thing to do. I’m saving us both so much pain by walking away now._

“So, how are things with Oikawa going?” Bokuto asks him as he sits down across from him at the table. “I’ve noticed that you guys seem to have worked things out now.”

Hajime doesn’t feel like explaining this to him. Not when he’s not totally sure of anything other than _it must end._

When he’s not sure why the thought of doing the right thing, of simply returning to the role of Oikawa’s protector, hurts so much. At least he’s fairly confident that this will hurt him much more than it hurts Oikawa. He’s the one that gets attached, not the famously breezy Oikawa. Not like this, at least.

“You two have a rare kind of love that you don’t see every day.”

Hajime’s thoughts come to a screeching halt, and he _definitely_ doesn’t want to think about this right now. “How are things with Kuroo going?” He doesn’t allow himself to feel guilt over the hurt that flashes across Bokuto’s face.

Bokuto sulks and starts picking at his last piece of toast.  

Hajime takes a sip of his coffee, glowering.

They don’t speak again until Akaashi and Oikawa finally stumble into the room for coffee. Even then, Akaashi focuses on lifting Bokuto out of his mood, shooting dark looks at Hajime, rather than conversation. Oikawa plops into the chair next to him, but doesn’t say anything.

Silence blankets the room, dampening thoughts and feelings until Hajime feels faintly suffocated by it. He finishes his coffee quickly, gets ready for classes, and leaves before he can think too much about why Oikawa’s silence towards him hurts so much when that’s what he wanted.

Right?

***

Yui walks into the local cafe just off campus, _The Bean Bag_ , and looks around for Suga's familiar grey-streaked black hair, and is surprised when she can't find it. She walks up to the counter, orders her drink and it's while she's waiting for her order to be ready that she finally spots him. Suga is sitting in a corner, nestled into one of the bean bag chairs that litter the cafe, feet tucked under him, sipping from one of the oversized mugs that all the drinks here come in.

She grabs her drink when the barista calls her name, walks over to join him. She settles into the bean bag across from him and does a double take. It wasn't obvious from far away, but now that Yui is up close she can see the dark circles under Suga's eyes that look like bruises on his pale skin.

"You look like shit, Suga," It's all she can think of to say, too shocked by his appearance to sugarcoat it.

He chuckles, a sound that seems more like a sob than a laugh, and runs his hand through his hair. Yui notices that it's more grey than black now, which is probably why she didn't see him at first. "Don't pull any punches, Michimiya."

Yui gives him a look over the rim of her mug. "When have I ever pulled punches with you?"

He sighs, and it sounds like defeat. "Yeah, I guess you haven't." He takes a sip of his drink, eyes going glassy as he stares off into the distance.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Remember how I told you I was living with a bunch of friends from high school?"

"Yeah," Yui nods, settles more comfortably into the bean bag, "Sawamura-san and Asahi-san, right?"

Suga nods. "Yeah, and a couple freshman have moved in too, along with Nishinoya-kun."

Yui smiles fondly, "I love Nishinoya-kun!"

Suga smiles faintly. "Did I ever tell you that they're all vampires?"

Yui spits out the mouthful of tea she was about to swallow, sputters, says "you most certainly did not."

"Okay, well, they are and I'm their familiar."

Yui feels, personally, that Suga is far too casual about this. "Is that why your hair keeps getting greyer? That's not a conscious choice?"

Suga runs his hand through his hair again, chagrined. "It hasn't really been a problem until lately."

Yui nods, says "I'm listening," and waits. She doesn't wait long, as the words come spilling out of Suga in a rush of repressed emotion.

"Okay so apparently, vampires use small drops of their own blood to replenish human familiars so that they don't have to worry about massive blood loss and they can keep up with the demands of feeding a vampire constantly. Their preferred method of giving humans blood is to transfer it by kiss, that way it's pleasant for both parties involved, and their saliva also has small healing properties."

"Okay," Yui says, when he pauses for breath. "So why is this important?"

"It's important because it means that whenever I would feed Daichi, he would kiss me after, and then recently he starting kissing me more when I wasn't feeding him."

"Oh, so he liked you," Yui states matter-of-factly, unsure why her statement causes a pained look to flash across Suga's face.

"Well, yes, you could say that." Suga takes a sip of his coffee, continues. "Well a few weeks ago I was in ballet class and I was talking to Akaashi—”

"Oh I love Akaashi-kun!" Yui interrupts, eyes wide. "Sorry," she says, when Suga gives her a look over the rim of his mug.

"Anyway, he noticed in class that I had some unhealed bite marks from Daichi and took it upon himself to heal them. Which lead to us making out before our ballet class." Suga ignores Yui's gasp and keeps talking. "Then he invited me to go out dancing with him and his friends, I went, and then I went home with Akaashi and spent the weekend with him, which Daichi was _not_ happy about, and it was one of the best weekends of my life."

Yui throws up her hand not holding the mug in exasperation. "Okay, then what?"

Suga shrugs. "I didn't think about it a whole lot since vampires are all incredibly affectionate, right? I thought that at most, we were close friends, maybe casually dating? But not in a committed way, which is why when Akaashi saw Daichi kissing me at the Halloween party he _kind of freaked out,_ because I guess he thought we were dating?"

Yui can feel, distantly, that her mouth is wide open, but she can't think to do anything about it until her mind manages to process everything Suga has just told her.

Suga rubs the back of his head. "Daichi was mad, Akaashi was hurt, and I was confused because how was I supposed to know that Akaashi considered us to be in a relationship? Daichi too, for that matter? Neither one of them ever told me that they had serious feelings for me, the just kind expected me to _know?"_ He looks up at her, eyes watery and red-rimmed. "Nobody ever told me how they felt, so _I_ never knew what to feel about them, and now I don't know what to feel or what to do, really."

Yui nods, processing everything he's told her. "You said you fixed it?"

Suga takes a deep breath, nods and collects himself slightly. "If by fixed it you mean I talked to Daichi, which ended up in a fight, and I've told Akaashi that I'm going to talk to him five times and backed out every time."

Yui buries her face in her hand, sighs. "Suga, honey, this is a disaster?"

Suga nods, eyes welling up again. "I _know_ ," he wails, drawing several glances of concern from the other students in the cafe.

"What about your dance classes? Don't you have all of them with Akaashi?"

Suga nods miserably, wiping away a stray tear. "Yeah, we've just, danced around each other."

Yui groans, "really, the puns? At a time like this?"

Suga sighs. "I mean, we talk to one another, just not much beyond the pleasantries. I think he's trying to give me space, which I need, but I feel bad because I know we need to talk and none of this is his fault and I _really_ like him it's just taken me a while to deal with the drama with Daichi and it's been so long I don't know what to do Yui help!" His voice rises to a squeak of distress.

Yui sighs, places a calming hand on Suga's shoulder. "Breathe, Suga. Calm down." She waits while he takes several deep breaths before continuing in an even, measured tone. "If you like him, you need to _talk_ to him. Explain to him what you told me, about your confusion about the kissing, and about how you thought that was normal?"

Suga nods in confirmation. "What if it's too late? If he's already moved on?"

Yui smiles softly, "well that's the worst thing that can happen. But Suga," she waits until he looks her in the eye, warm caramel eyes glassy with unshed tears, "you have to _talk_. There is nothing to lose by having an open, honest conversation. Just tell him how you feel and what's been confusing you."

Suga nods and Yui can see the resolve filling his eyes. "Okay."

"At the very least, he should be able to explain things a little more thoroughly and clear up a lot of misconceptions you seem to have."

"Thanks, Michimiya. I feel a bit better now." He takes a deep breath.

Yui nods, nudging his leg with her foot. "Move over a bit, you need a hug," she says, setting down her mug. Suga shifts and she moves from her beanbag to his, snuggling next to him and wrapping her arms around his stomach. Suga relaxes back against her, his head falling back onto the beanbag next to hers. They sit there for a few moments, letting the soft buzz of the cafe fill the silence around them.

Yui watches as Suga takes out his phone and texts Akaashi, telling him that he'll be over in the next hour if he's home. She nods approvingly over his shoulder as he sends it. When he gets Akaashi's text of confirmation that 'yes, I’ll be home' he lets out a huge sigh.

"Hey, I do actually need help with my History of Dance homework if you have time."

Suga lets out a real laugh, nods his head, "sure, let's take a look."

Yui smiles at him as she reaches into her bag to get her homework, relieved to see his expression a little lighter than when she first sat down.

Things have a way of working themselves out, after all.

***

“How many days in a row does this make it?”

The question comes softly into the silence between them, and Bokuto pulls Kenma closer to him under the blankets, as if to offset the pain hearing him answer is going to give him.

“Three, I think,” Kenma answers, hands rubbing soothing circles on Bokuto’s back.

“No, it’s been a full week now,” Akaashi says, materializing between them under the blankets, just slowly enough that Bokuto and Kenma can shift in time to make room.

Kenma doesn’t quite manage to hide his huff of annoyance. “Doesn’t he usually only do two, maybe three nights before losing interest?”

“Apparently he likes the kid,” Akaashi says while he adjusts Kenma’s arms around him. Kenma moves obligingly, until they’re pressed together under the covers, the three of them tightly intertwined. 

“He told you that?” Bokuto asks him, and they all pretend to ignore the hurt seeping into his tone.

“Yeah, the other morning over coffee.” Akaashi gently brushes his hand along the lines of Bokuto’s face, hoping to ease the sting his words cause. Kenma isn’t sure it totally works. 

There’s a beat of silence. “How’s Oikawa doing?” Bokuto asks. “You just checked in with him, right?” Akaashi and Kenma let the abrupt change in topic slide.

Akaashi sighs into his chest, “he’s panicking and trying not to show it.”

“Iwaizumi fed from me yesterday.”

Kenma snaps his head up to look at Bokuto over Akaashi. “ _What?”_

Bokuto nods, worry evident in his face and words. “Yeah, I guess he hasn’t fed for a week.”

“That’s right before the Halloween party,” Akaashi murmurs into Bokuto’s shirt, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “Did that party go right for anyone?”

Kenma snorts softly into Akaashi’s back in amusement. “Apparently not.”

“I thought for sure Iwaizumi was going to go all in,” Bokuto says, absently running a hand up and down Kenma’s back in broad strokes. “When I talked to him the morning after the Halloween party and mentioned that it must be nice to be in love he seemed surprised to find that I was talking about him and Oikawa.”

“You did _what?”_ Akaashi asks incredulously, nearly smacking Kenma’s nose with how quickly he rears back in shock.

“I thought it was obvious?”

“Yeah, to everyone except Iwaizumi and Oikawa,” Kenma says evenly, letting his eyes drift shut. It was too early for these kinds of revelations. He says as much, which prompts Akaashi to roll over and scowl at him, “it’s eleven in the morning, Kenma.”

He shrugs. “In any case, it’s probably your fault that Iwaizumi is having a crisis. I doubt he realized what it meant when he stopped needing anyone else’s blood except Oikawa’s.”

“Hang on,” Bokuto says, affronted. “Shouldn’t he already have known that? I mean, they both come from two of the oldest pureblood vampire families. You’d think they would know that.”

“Knowing something and realizing that it applies to you are two different things,” Akaashi says gently. “Regardless, it’s done, so now we just have to hope that they manage to work it out.”

“Oikawa’s going to be a disaster until it’s sorted, for better or for worse,” Kenma says, already dreading the amount of consoling he would no doubt have to do. He can’t remember the last time he had his bed to himself for more than a day.

Akaashi nods, pressing his back into Bokuto’s chest with a content hum. “I talked to him a few days ago when he snuck into my bed again, I think he’s going to do the ‘I’m pretending it’s not a problem so _I’m fine_ ’ routine.”

Kenma purses his lips. It wasn’t his _favorite_ Oikawa coping method, but it was a lot better than his ‘if I’m miserable then you’re all going to be miserable’ routine.

Bokuto tightens his arms around Akaashi as they lapse into quiet, each absorbed in their own thoughts for a few moments. Akaashi rolls over again to press his face into the furnace-like heat radiating from Bokuto. Kenma snuggles close to Akaashi’s back again, draping his arms over and under Bokuto’s around Akaashi.

“Isn’t Suga supposed to be coming by soon?” Bokuto asks into the silence, pressing Akaashi closer to his chest.

“Yeah,” Akaashi says, reaching down to lace his fingers through Kenma’s on his stomach. “At least, if he doesn’t bail again.”

“That would make this what…the sixth time?”

Kenma can’t quite suppress his snort of derision.

“Yeah,” begins Akaashi, but he doesn’t finish as they all freeze at the sound of the doorbell.

“Kenma will you get the door?” Akaashi’s voice is _too_ calm.

Kenma materializes from the room, entering the dark _between_ briefly before appearing in front of the door. He opens it slowly, and finds Suga standing on their doorstep, the midday sun beaming down on him.

He looks _awful_. Kenma can’t remember the last time he saw someone looking so haggard.

“Hey, Kozume-san,” says Suga as he smiles weakly and gives a small wave. “Is Akaashi here?”

Kenma opens the door wider, standing aside to let Suga walk in. Despite his lingering anger over the emotional strain Suga has put on Akaashi, he’s incredibly concerned by the tension in Suga’s face and body. He has faint purple stains under his eyes, marring his delicately pale skin. If Kenma’s not mistaken (and he rarely is), Suga’s hair has greyed significantly. There are only a few threads of black streaking through the grey, and while silver works for Suga, he’s concerned as to _how_ he went from black streaked with grey, to grey streaked with a little black in five days. “Sugawara-san, you look like shit.”

Suga huffs a laugh. “You’re not the first person to tell me that today.”

Kenma nods. “I’ll go and get Akaashi for you.” He materializes before Suga can respond, crossing the _between_ and appearing on the foot of his bed sitting cross legged. “Keiji-kun, Suga’s here.”

Akaashi sighs, sits up slowly and runs a hand through his messy curls. He vanishes without a word.

Bokuto sits up. “Com’on Kenma,” he says, grabbing Kenma’s arm and dragging him off his bed and up the stairs, stopping to sit at the top of them.

Kenma can’t believe they’re doing this, but he also knows that Akaashi wouldn’t mind, so he doesn’t fight it. Besides, he notes with a small degree of apprehension, Kuroo is curled around Tsukishima on the couch, reading _King Lear,_ across from where Akaashi and Suga are sitting on the couch. If Kuroo and Tsukishima are in the room, they can be at the top of the basement stairs. Suga’s back is to them where Akaashi has seated him on the couch, so he’ll never know they were there anyway.

There’s silence as Akaashi waits for Suga to speak, the only sound the turning of a page as Kuroo continues to read.

“First off,” Suga starts, so quietly that both Kenma and Bokuto lean further into the room, until they’re basically laying on the floor in front of the stairs. Akaashi spares them a brief, dirty glance. “I’d like to apologize for taking so long to talk to you.”

Akaashi just nods at this, clearly waiting for Suga to continue. He does.

“I’ve honestly been so confused. I didn’t know that you considered us to be in a relationship because we _never talked about it_ , and I probably should have asked? But also, all my experience with vampires the last few years, _especially_ with Daichi, was that they were just affectionate? Neither one of you ever really told me that you had serious feelings for me, you just kind expected me to _know?_ I’ve spent much of the last weeks with you thinking that this was normal behavior for vampires, and I didn’t have any knowledge to correct that assumption.” He pauses for breath, and Kenma can almost see the pieces clicking into place in Akaashi’s head as he processes all of this.

“Nobody ever told me how they felt, so _I_ never knew what to feel about you or Daichi, I was just kinda on autopilot, going along with it.” Suga runs his hands through his hair, and Kenma can see, even from this far away, that they’re shaking. “I’m sorry that I didn’t ever ask for clarification, and I’m sorry that I didn’t realize the depth of your feelings for me.”

Akaashi nods, then says, “you just thought I was affectionate?”

“I mean, I thought that’s how vampires were? No one ever told me anything otherwise, so I just assumed that the kissing and sex were a part of vampirism? I mean, just look at Kuroo.” He flings a hand out in the direction of Kuroo and Tsukishima, who are quietly making out, Shakespeare abandoned.

“That is a ridiculous standard,” Akaashi says, folding his arms across his chest. “Kuroo is Kuroo.”

Kuroo pulls away from Tsukishima long enough to wink at them and flip them the bird before Tsukishima pulls him back to him.

Kenma can hear a low whine emit from Bokuto.  

“Regardless of how wrong I was, that’s what I thought.”

“Okay,” Akaashi says slowly, almost like he’s unsure of where to go from here.

“There’s more,” Suga says, continuing when Akaashi nods. “I didn’t realize until I’d spent some time thinking alone for a day or two, but I’ve been feeling so suffocated by my coven. I barely have time to do things with anyone outside of my coven for months. Going out dancing with you guys? That was the first time I’d done something with people other than my coven and I was drunk on the freedom of being away from them for even a weekend.”

Kenma starts to feel appalled on Suga’s behalf. Did his coven realize that they’d been smothering this poor boy? No wonder he hadn’t realized how much Akaashi liked him. Not to mention he was half dead that night to begin with.

Suga continues, talking so fast Kenma wonders if he’s going to be able to stop. “I know I’ve needed to talk to you, and man, have I missed you.” He smiles up at Akaashi through his lashes. “I’ve missed you so much more than I thought that I would. But I needed the time on my own to figure out what I wanted, to know for sure what it was that I needed.

“In the end I’ve realized that missing you was more painful than saying goodbye to Daichi as a romantic option, which I had to do a few days ago. I understand if you don’t want to let me back in, I really do. Just know that I’m actually ready to be with you now, if you’ll have me. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to get it together.”

The whole room stills as everyone, even Kuroo and Tsukishima, looks at Akaashi. He’s staring down at his hands in his lap, eyebrows pinched together in thought. Kenma watches as Suga wrings his hands nervously, practically vibrating with tension.

Akaashi finally moves, reaches his hand out and presses it to Suga’s cheek, thumb tracing over the small beauty mark under his eye. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed you?”

Suga practically _melts,_ all the tension leaving his slender frame in a rush. “I’m so sorry,” he chokes out as Akaashi tugs him into his arms.

Kenma watches with Bokuto as Akaashi clutches Suga close to him, fisting his hands in Suga’s sweater. “Stay with me, Suga.” His words come out slightly choked as he fights emotion. “You’re all I need.”

Suga sobs, hiding his face in Akaashi’s neck. Kenma can see him nodding vigorously, incapable of speech, but the way he clings to Akaashi makes it clear that he won’t be letting go for a long, long time.

Bokuto tugs his sleeve, and they walk back down the stairs quietly, only talking once they’re safely tucked back into Kenma’s bed. “I’m glad he’s happy,” Bokuto says softly. Kenma doesn’t miss the longing in his voice.

“It will get easier, Koutarou.” It’s the only thing he can think of to say. “Just give yourself time.”

Bokuto nods, but Kenma doesn’t think he believes him. Not yet, anyway. They lay there in the quiet of the room, the sounds of Akaashi’s laughter filtering down the stairs.

The laughter continues for some time, offsetting the quiet sniffles of Bokuto. All Kenma can do is wrap his arms around Bokuto and hope that the pain fades quickly.

He wishes there was more he could do.

 

**Author's Note:**

> *laughs timidly* don't hate me pls
> 
> next time in love-bites and legwarmers: the kids cut loose, fluffy creatures, and way too many shots
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr](https://mysoulrunswithwolves.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/wolfstar_soul)


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